VA Releases New Gulf War Report

Veterans for Common Sense sent out an update on what is going on with Gulf War Veterans. The news isn't good but what is good is that VCS is staying on top of all of it.

VA Releases New Gulf War Report

On February 23, VA released the agency's most recent report on "Pre 9/11 Veterans". Huh !? That's VA's new term for troops who deployed to Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991.

VA neglected to provide totals on many pages, and many terms and definitions are very confusing, even to experts. The net result is another VA fiasco in urgent need of an editor. VCS offered to help, but VA never called us.

Not mentioned in the report is the billions of dollars spent on healthcare and benefits for hundreds of thousands of veterans disabled, injured, or ill after deploying to a war that should have never been fought.

This was included in the report from the VA. If you think you just forgot what happened, it isn't your fault. The media just ignored it.

Al Jubayl: On or about January 19, 1991, U.S. Servicemembers reported an incident involving a “loud noise,” “bright flash,” and possible “Iraqi chemical warfare agent attack” that occurred in and around Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia. DoD concluded that the chemical attack was “unlikely.” This and additional information regarding these events may be accessed by clicking on the following DoD website: http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=2835. Structure: It is composed of all unique deployed Veterans in the Desert Storm cohort who were identified by DoD as being present at Al Jubayl for the above incident. Both Al Jubayl and Non-AlJubayl are immediate subsets of the Desert Storm cohort. (page 13)

Khamisiyah: On March 4, 1991, and on March 10, 1991, U.S. Servicemembers destroyed Iraqi “chemical warfare agent rockets,” possibly exposing military personnel to very low levels of chemical warfare agents, at the Khamisiyiah Army Supply Depot, Iraq. This and additional information regarding these events may be accessed by clicking on the following DoD website: http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=3322. Structure: It is composed of all unique deployed Veterans in the Post-Desert Storm cohort who were identified by DoD as being present at Khamisiyah for the above incidents. Both Khamisiyah and non-Khamisiyah are immediate subsets of the Post-Desert Storm cohort.(page 14)

read more of this report here
VA Report Pre 9-11
Also from Veterans For Common Sense

CIA Still Hides Important Gulf War Documents

Twenty years ago this week, U.S. troops invaded Iraq and Kuwait. The offensive U.S. military action came in response to events in July 1990, when U.S. diplomats gave a green light to Iraq's Saddam Hussein signaling he could invade Kuwait without any political, military, or economic consequences.

After two decades, there is still no accounting of the human and financial costs of this clearly preventable war. Our government still hides behind "secrecy," leaving too many Gulf War veterans without answers and without medical care.

Former CIA analyst Patrick G. Eddington's new book, "Long Strange Journey: An Intelligence Memoir" reveals how our CIA is "sitting on" millions of documents relating to widespread chemical exposure relating to Gulf War Illness. VCS thanks Mr. Eddington for his outstanding diligence in the face of so much opposition.

According to top scientists, as many as 250,000 Gulf War veterans remain ill and without treatments due, in part, to CIA, military, and VA stonewalling. Our strong message to the CIA Director Leon Panetta: Come clean now. With hundreds of thousands ill and disabled, have you no conscience for your fellow Americans, Mr. Panetta?

read more of this here
CIA Still Hides Important Gulf War Documents